Cananito

Skyfall trailer

Tue, 22 May 2012 14:32:26 -0700

We’re going to kill them first.

BAM!

Zuckerberg’s Hoodie a ‘Mark of Immaturity,’ Analyst Says

Wed, 09 May 2012 12:23:06 -0700

Zuckerberg’s Hoodie a ‘Mark of Immaturity,’ Analyst Says:

Suits are clown clothes. I hope Zuckerberg doesn’t give in. ‘Immaturity’ (using their words) is what drives the technology industry, why change to wear clothes bozos wear.

Jason Snell on iTunes

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 19:26:26 -0700

Jason Snell on iTunes:

People started talking about iTunes this week, saying it’s a mess specially when it comes to device syncing. I think it’s true, but I also think Apple shouldn’t and isn’t worrying about it much.

I bet less and less people are using iTunes to manage their iOS devices, more and more iCloud. Steve Jobs even said that the PC is not the media hub anymore, iCloud is. Isn’t it obvious that iCloud is Apple’s new strategy?

The Higher Education Monopoly is Crumbling As We Speak

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:29:26 -0700

The Higher Education Monopoly is Crumbling As We Speak:

The traditional college degree monopoly has long been sustained by three mutually-reinforcing factors. First, colleges are highly subsidized through some combination of direct government funding, non-profit status, and student financial aid. Second, only accredited colleges can receive government subsidies and offer credits and credentials that are recognized by employers and other colleges. The accreditation system, meanwhile, is controlled by existing colleges themselves. Third, our society has made an enormous psychic investment in the idea of traditional colleges. Most people don’t know how to think about credentials any other way.

And I think the third is going to be the hardest to change.

But just as people are ultimately interested in buying holes, not drills, higher education consumers aren’t buying courses or degree programs. They’re buying credentials.

This is so true. If I were buying courses or degree programs all along instead of credentials, I would be asking for so many refunds.

Traditional degrees have the great advantage of being simple and universally understood. The problem is that they provide little information about what students actually know and are becoming more expensive all the time.

Barefoot Running

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 21:18:13 -0700

Barefoot Running:

Nice infographic about running shoes, traditional ones are bad for you. I own a set of Vibram FiveFingers, love them.

Education Needs to Be Turned on It's Head

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 17:39:48 -0700

Education Needs to Be Turned on It's Head:

“The founding fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on their parents. So they provided jails called school, equipped with tortures called education.” - John Updike

Oh boy, so much truth.

And the way we’re taught to learn is as receivers of information, non-thinkers. Follow the rules. Read pages 100-132. Do the exercises. Memorize the information. Spit it out in a test. Do this project, because we tell you to, not because it’s fun or interesting.

The way we need to be taught to learn is completely different. It’s this: learn about what interests you, gets you curious, gets you excited. Figure out where to get the information you need. Read about it, talk to someone about it, find out about it. Try it. Do it, make mistakes. Figure out how to correct the mistakes. Figure out how to solve the problems you encounter. Repeat.

I really believe that “basic education” is not about the content. I say this because I’m pretty sure that the number one argument against this would be “they need to learn x”. No, they don’t, if they do, they’ll be interested in it first due to a given event in their lives.

And that’s the problem with schools. They can’t motivate kids to learn, because they’re forcing it. They’re trying to impart on them a rigid system of authority that kids naturally rebel against. In fact, this is the main problem kids face, and they come up with all kinds of incredibly creative ways to solve it, from skipping school and smoking pot to drawing incredible doodles in notebooks instead of listening to a history lecture to finding ingenious ways to communicate with peers, through technologies like texting and iPhones and through old technologies like passing notes and so on.

For a long while, I’ve always asked myself why do people whine about school all the time (including myself), specially professional education in which you’re supposed to choose what to study. But the answer is so obvious: you don’t have the complete freedom to choose what and how to learn.

The whole education system assumes everyone learns the same way, at the same speed, and is interested in the same things. Horrible assumption.

I still believe we need institutions in which people gather to share knowledge or discuss topics. A great example of this are GYMs (in theory, because nowadays it’s filled with marketing crap): people go at any given time, workout, and share knowledge (in this case fitness knowledge). They don’t impose a routine on you, they don’t tell you at what time you should be there. Trainers or experts only give you tips and advice, they guide you. And sometimes you can swap a trainer or expert for the great internet. And sometimes you can choose to stay home.

In general terms, that’s how schools should work in my opinion.

We need to get out of their damn way.

We’re halting kids’s progress if we don’t get out of their damn way.

Barbaric vs Reasonable

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:17:00 -0700

Barbaric vs Reasonable:

Great article about being barbaric vs reasonable inside a product company, but I think it applies well in other aspects of life. First great quote:

Reasonable people are often scared by the new.

The thing is that the new eventually takes over. But there needs to be balance:

A healthy product company is, confusingly, one at odds with itself. There is a healthy part which is attempting to normalize and to create predictability, and there needs to be another part that is tasked with building something new that is going to disrupt and eventually destroy that normality.

Failure to create some form of predictability will result in chaos. Failure to create some sort of well-maintained Barbaric chaos inside the company guarantees that a fast-moving, ambitious, risk-taking and ruthless someone else - someone outside the company will invade, because they know what you forgot: hacking is important.

How Not To Sell Software in 2012

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:47:21 -0800

How Not To Sell Software in 2012:

Basically, if a given software package or service isn’t free/open, it should be as easy as humanly possible to try it, pay for it, and start using it in production.

And I think this doesn’t only apply to software, but movies and music also, otherwise people will just end up pirating your product.

Don’t miss the list of don’ts, spot on.

TV Is Broken

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 10:48:52 -0800

TV Is Broken:

No one wants commercials.

Going above and beyond…

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:04:47 -0800

Going above and beyond…:

Nice little story about an Apple store without electricity.

Apple updates iBooks Author EULA

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:41:26 -0800

Apple updates iBooks Author EULA:

You retain complete rights of the content. Only restriction is to sell the .ibook file through the iBookstore and if you distribute it somewhere else it has to be free. Duh.

Jeff LaMarche's take on iBooks Author's EULA

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:59:17 -0800

Jeff LaMarche's take on iBooks Author's EULA:

Best take I’ve read on all this iBA debacle.

Watching Apple win the world

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:56:00 -0800

Watching Apple win the world:

David from 37signals:

No other company has inspired me more when it comes to marketing, design, focus, and even capitalism than Apple. Make the best damn product out there, charge a profitable price, and win the world.

Official Tea Drinker

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:27:33 -0800

It’s been around 6 months since I got into tea. Now I can say I’m an official tea drinker (black tea specifically), still not an expert though.

As I mentioned on the previous post, I bought the then existing “Samovar Black Tea Sample Set”, because it seemed black tea would be the best fit for me.

I really haven’t tried other kind of teas, but I think I did make the right choice going with black tea, I like it a lot. Out of all the samples, my personal favorite was the Samovar Breakfast Blend. I plan to either keep buying it, or try out the English Breakfast from Adagio Teas.

Now, on to the actual brewing. My technique over time has been getting better, and my palate has been also getting better in the sense that it doesn’t need sweeteners as long as the brew is not too strong.

I started with too many leaves and a long infusion, this made a really strong brew for my newbie palate (tasted really bitter), so I had to put in a bunch of sugar. I then started to reduce the amount of leaves, but the time of infusion remained the same, so I still needed to add a bit of sugar. Right now, I’m at the point where I put in a relatively small amount of leaves and infuse it for just 2 minutes, but I don’t need to add any sugar.

So this takes me to my goals:

I plan to slowly keep increasing the amount of leaves and infusion time.
Buy an electric kettle to heat water faster and at the perfect temperature.
Drink tea more often.

iBooks Author first thoughts

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:33:20 -0800

I think iBooks Author is a great tool, but it seems that a lot of people are disappointed with the news about it, mainly because you can’t distribute the output (unless it’s free) outside the iBookstore and because it can’t output ePub format (it uses a proprietary iBook format instead). As Jason Snell points out:

Clearly the company’s first priority was to build a tool so that interactive iPad books, specifically textbooks, could be built as easily as possible. That’s what iBooks Author is for today. Any other uses are purely coincidental.

And lets not to forget that it’s a FREE tool. Even Microsoft Office Home and Student, which is not free, disallows any commercial or non-profit use.

If it doesn’t fit your needs, don’t use it, but quit complaining about it.

Steve Jobs and Japan

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:27:28 -0800

Steve Jobs and Japan:

Great read.

Why do we grade?

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 23:46:10 -0800

Why do we grade?:

Best part:

I would say that the main reason that we grade is since we really are not in the business of providing an education but rather in the business of providing degrees. To award a meaningful degree you need to grade. To deliver a meaningful education you do not.

I mostly agree, I think the whole education system is broken because of degrees (with a few exceptions like medicine and related careers), but giving degrees is actually possible without grading, a clear example: martial arts.

The reason martial arts get away with giving degrees without grading is that there are no time lapses defined, you get a new belt whenever the sensei thinks you deserve it. I think this can be applied to some parts of the education system as well.

Tesla Model S Options and Specs

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:52:19 -0800

Tesla Model S Options and Specs:

Really nice site, really Apple-ish. Would love to be an owner of one of those in the future.

MG Siegler's response to Joshua Topolsky's "Horseshit"

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:58:00 -0800

MG Siegler's response to Joshua Topolsky's "Horseshit":

Spot on. MG brought up the same point I made about Galaxy Nexus being more expensive than the iPhone.

Why Programmers Work at Night

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:14:39 -0800

Why Programmers Work at Night:

3 factors:

The maker’s schedule.
The sleepy brain.
Bright computer screens.

It’s really annoying when people tell me I go to sleep to late or don’t wake up early enough.